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Highlights

  • BSP Financial is a diversified financial services provider with business across seven South Pacific countries and two South East Asia countries
  • In FY22, BFL’s total income grew by 9.6%, driven by reopening of international borders after Covid-19 pandemic
  • The current focus of BFL is to innovate with the intent to enhance customer experience and expand retail network

BSP Financial Group Limited (ASX: BFL) is a financial services provider and primarily offers banking, life insurance, asset finance, corporate advisory and funds management related services. BSP claims to have the largest branch network in the Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and Samoa, with branches and sub-branches in towns and cities in these countries.

The banking company registered a total income growth of 9.6% in the Financial year 2022 (FY22), underpinned by an increase in interest income, foreign exchange income and improvement in transactional volumes driven by the reopening of international borders after the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the same period, net interest income grew by 8.84% and net profit after tax by 0.54%.

Recent business update

In the company release dated 14 July 2023, BFL announced the appointment of Jamie-Lee Loh as its acting company secretary. The appointment came after the resignation of Mary John as company secretary.

In another update, the company reported a 1.17% increase in Fiji National Provident Fund’s shareholding in BFL.

Dividend

BSP Financial pays dividends on a semi-annual basis. A final dividend of AUD 0.496 was paid in April this year. The ex-dividend date was 9 March 2023, and the pay-date was 21 April 2023. The dividend was un-franked.

Key Risks

Internal factors that put BFL at risk are internal processes’ failure and external factors include legal claims. BFL can face penalties by regulators due to failure of prudential standards, regulations and policies. Also, the movement in interest rates can affect the company’s earnings.

Outlook

The company is continuously exploring inorganic and organic growth opportunities within its service line and markets. According to a company filing, the focus is on innovation to provide new services, enhance customer experience, and expand the retail branch network.

The price performance of BFL

BFL stock closed 0.20% higher at AUD 4.910 apiece on 20 July 2023, and more than 20,500 stocks exchanged hands on ASX. In the last 12 months, the share price has increased by 1.23%, 2.29% in six months and 1.02% in three months.

The 52-week high of BFL is AUD 5.400, recorded on 3 March 2023, and the 52-week low is AUD 4.520, recorded on 30 January 2023. The closing price on 20 July is 9.07% lower than its 52-week high and 8.63% higher than its 52-week low.

Note 1: Past performance is neither an Indicator nor a guarantee of future performance.

Note 2: The reference date for all price data, and currency, is 20 July 2023. The reference data in this report has been partly sourced from REFINITIV.